Family | Speri Viticoltori

A MATTER OF TEAMWORK

The Speri Winery, one of the historical families of Valpolicella, is an authoritative and faithful interpreter of Valpolicella Classica wines that has become, due to its uninterrupted traditions and strong territorial roots, a landmark in Italian winemaking.

The Speri Winery, with a story that begins in the first half of the 1800s, has now entered its seventh generation making wine from about 60 hectares of vineyards in the most select Valpolicella Classica areas.
The Winery strength has always been, and still is, a matter of teamwork, today engaging three generations – Carlo, Alberto, Giampaolo, Giampietro, Laura, Chiara, Luca and Giuseppe – that manage all stages of production activities, from the vineyard to the bottle.

In 2015, after practicing years of sustainable farming, the Winery achieved organic certification for all of the production.

The Speri family, respecting its territorial heritage, has always cultivated exclusively the native grape varieties of the Valpolicella zone (Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Molinara and other indigenous varieties), making wine only from grapes coming from its own vineyards and itself overseeing the entire production process.

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speri-1959

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1950 clienti da milano128

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foto bisnonno benedetto e nonno sante 3 e 2 generaz

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bambini damigiana

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SEVEN GENERATIONS OF HISTORY

1874

The Speri family makes wine, as proven by the barrel that still exists in the cellar.

1885 e seguenti

Carlo Speri (1827-1915) purchases "plots of arable land with vines, mulberry trees and other plants" in the municipality of San Pietro in Cariano, laying the foundations for his growing farming activities in following years

1898

The notebooks of Carlo and Benedetto Speri show us that the Speri family sold wine to private persons and businesses during those years.

1908

Benedetto Speri, Carlo's son, won a silver medal at the Rome Expo of Industrial and Agricultural Products.

1911

The company Speri Carlo e figlio is registered in the Verona Chamber of Commerce for marketing of wines in Pedemonte, a hamlet in the Municipality of San Pietro in Cariano.

1915

Benedetto Speri becomes "sole heir" at the death of Carlo Speri.

1933

Sante Speri, Benedetto's son, purchases the Monte Sant'Urbano estate in Fumane. Today this is held to be one of the prestigious crus of Valpolicella Classica.

1950

The winery exports to Switzerland, a market that has always appreciated Speri wines

1951

Benedetto Speri donates the property to Sante Speri. Sante now runs the family winery by himself.

1955

Sante Speri and his wife Ester have a large family: five sons - Omero, Giuseppe, Benedetto, Eliseo and Carlo - and one daughter, Marisa. Four of the sons, Giuseppe, Benedetto, Eliseo and Carlo, continue in the family business. Each of them in their turns will have large families.

1958

The Speri Winery, one of the very first to make Amarone, produces its first vintage of Speri Amarone.

1962

The brothers Giuseppe, Benedetto, Carlo, Eliseo (sons of Sante Speri) build the current cellar, too large for a time when Amarone, a wine that needs to be aged, was still not widely popular.

1967

Sante Speri hands ownership of the property in the municipalities of Fumane and San Pietro in Cariano over to his sons Giuseppe, Benedetto, Carlo and Eliseo.

1968

Creation of the first "Valpolicella" wine production regulations with DOC acknowledgment

1971

The Speri Winery, already present on European markets for many years, starts exporting overseas to the United States.

1974

Creation of the first Speri family Cru: Amarone Classico Vigneto Monte Sant'Urbano. The Speri family was one of the first Valpolicella winegrowers to produce Cru wines, already doing so in the nineteen seventies, vinifying separately grapes from different vineyards when this was not yet a popular concept in Italy.

1976-89

The first Speri Brothers' children start working in the winery together with their fathers: beginning with Alberto (Giuseppe's son), then Giampietro and Giampaolo (Eliseo's sons).

1983

After years of testing the first vintage of Valpolicella Classico Superiore Sant'Urbano finally arrives, a Cru made by lightly drying grapes from the prestigious Monte Sant'Urbano Vineyard.

1990

Carlo Speri was president of the Consortium to Safeguard Valpolicella Wines (Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella) from 1984 to 1993. Important changes to production regulations for "Valpolicella" DOC wines were approved during his presidency, made by Presidential Decree dated December 27th, 1990. Amarone della Valpolicella becomes fully independent and is no longer a dry version of Recioto della Valpolicella.

1996

The Speri Winery was the first, after years of testing, to introduce the open inclined pergoletta into its vineyards, a system whereby an inclined metal arm carries the vine branches and a central opening brings more sunlight and ventilation to the grapes bunches. This grapevine training system has now become very popular in Valpolicella.

2004

The Speri family starts out on its long path towards organic. Beginning by farming the vineyards using exclusively natural (and not synthetic) products. In subsequent years the cellar also becomes organically operated, until achievement of organic certification in 2015.

2000-2014

The Speri family team continues to grow. Luca, Chiara and Laura, the children of Carlo Speri (the youngest of the Speri brothers) and Giuseppe, the youngest member of the team, son of Alberto, enter into the winery at different moments. Now three generations are represented in the Winery (the 5th, 6th and 7th with Giuseppe) and 8 family members.

2015

The Speri Winery achieves organic certification of 100% of its production, becoming the most important organic winery in the Valpolicella Classica area.